Free The Pact (A Sarah Roberts Thriller Book 17) by Jonas Saul

left his door open a smidgen.
     
    After listening to Clara’s door for a moment, he heard nothing.
     
    He knocked.
     
    Something rustled behind her door. Footsteps approached. Darkness filled the peep hole as Clara checked him out. He stood back, his hands empty and visible, so she would see him smiling and warm.
     
    A click sounded and the door opened.
     
    “Can I help you?” Clara asked.
     
    She was stunning. A gorgeous woman. Barely twenty, extremely pretty. Bright white teeth, a luscious smile. Long blonde hair flowing down over one shoulder. The thought of ruining and killing a woman this smoking hot bothered him for one second. The delay it took him to respond.
     
    “A man interested in you sent me. I’m the driver. He told me to tell you the password.”
     
    A bashful, almost immature smile crossed her lips as she looked toward the carpeted floor.
     
    “Which is?” she asked. “The password, I mean.”
     
    “Plenty of Fish.”
     
    Clara nodded. She opened the door wider.
     
    “Come on in. I’m almost ready.”
     
    Ansgar, like the vampire who needed an invite to cross the threshold, stepped inside at Clara’s request, knowing tonight would be a long night of fun for both of them.
     
    Whether Clara was a willing partner or not, she was about to have her world rocked in so many ways.
     
    At least for five more days.
     
    Murder was such a sweet ending. No witness to testify against him in a rape and aggravated sexual assault trial and then no body to offer evidence against him in a murder trial.
     
    Just a missing girl. One who traveled alone. And opened her door to strangers with a fucked up password.
     
    Stupid girl.
     
    Such a stupid girl.
     
    In a world filled with them.
     

Chapter 11

    After much coaxing, Sarah exited the lavatory a half hour after the seatbelt light had been turned off. Perturbed that Sarah had not listened to them, the flight attendants let her go with a warning after talking to her seat mate, Glenn. He explained in her absence that upon hearing the news coming out of Toronto, Sarah had blanched and ran for the bathroom.
     
    Sarah was too weak and tired to argue with them. She didn’t speak a word in her defense as she offered them a thousand-yard stare while breathing through her open mouth. A pleasant attendant led her to her seat and got her belted back in. Sarah remained there for the rest of the flight. Nothing else mattered. Turbulence meant nothing. The crying baby two seats back didn’t penetrate her consciousness. Nothing got in.
     
    Abandoned by Vivian. Aaron dead. Was this what she had been working toward for the past decade? Was pain her legacy? As much as she had learned to trust her sister, how was it possible that Aaron could be gone? Sarah couldn’t believe it. Refused to believe it. She would demand to see the body or what was left of it.
     
    Glenn tried to talk to her. He left her alone after she didn’t acknowledge him. Attendants brought drinks and snacks around, but Sarah waved them away.
     
    If the news was to be believed, and she had no reason to not believe it, then her boyfriend was gone. She would stay in Toronto for the funeral. There would be no subsequent Denmark trip. Once Aaron was buried, she would want to spend time with Daniel, Alex, and Benjamin. They too would be in mourning. Her life as a gallivanting vigilante would come to a close. Vivian was gone anyway. What was the use?
     
    She hadn’t brought luggage. No bag of clothes. Just her passport and a small carry-on bag with essentials. She would have to buy something black to wear.
     
    The thought of shopping for Aaron’s funeral brought the realization to the surface. He was dead. His dojo was gone. It was truly over. How could she ever love again? Be with a man? Only Aaron understood her.
     
    The notion she avoided was that Aaron should’ve been with her in Santa Rosa. She should’ve never sent him home. The bomb would’ve gone off and others would’ve